ecoRidge Hideaway

09/11/2024

04/11/2024

Have you noticed the Brush-turkey’s nest across the road from the chalets?

It can be easily spotted, due to its large size, and taken for a bush gardener’s compost heap when unattended. It is the male that looks after the nest after the female has laid the eggs. Males build their nest with plant litter and soil and make sure it keeps a constant temperature of 33 degrees, by adding or removing material. If the females are happy about the maintenance of the nest, they will come to mate and lay eggs. Up to 24 eggs can be found buried in a mound to a 50cm depth. The male will watch them and keep the predators at bay until they hatch about 50 days later. Brush-turkeys owe their family name of megapodes to their particular mound built nests and are one of these only 3 species in Australia, the other 2 being the malleefowl and the orange-footed scrubfowl.
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21/09/2024

Along Nature Trail,
Rest for a moment at the Lookout
Over the wilderness of The Lomonds Valley.
Take the view and the peace in,
In this pristine piece of the world.
You might hear the bell bird in the distance
And the bees in the surrounds,
Sitting there on the bench,
Just you
and the trees, and the bees, and the wallabies.
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20/09/2024

Goanna up high in a gumtree, standing still in camouflage and for the picture 😉
Probably a Lace Monitor for its excellent climbing skills, also known as Tree Goanna. They are coming out of hibernation as the season changes and the weather warms up.
Did you know?
- Goannas can live up to 40 years in the wild.
- Although they have sharp teeth, they swallow their prey whole. The preys vary from insects, birds, eggs, small reptiles and mammals, depending on the size of the goanna.
- Goannas flicker their long forked tongues to detect prey through scent molecules in the air, in the same fashion as the snakes.
- if you hear galahs or kookaburras suddenly squawking in the middle of the day, check around. It could be a goanna climbing up a tree, often to visit nests in the hollows of the trunk.
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16/09/2024

A feel of Spring at the Toowoomba Regional Art Gallery with these beautiful interpretations of love and/with roses by local artist , while the rest of the Garden city is also in full bloom to celebrate the 75th Carnival of Flowers.

12/09/2024

Imagine,
The night has fallen,
And it’s dark all around.
No street lights,
Just the moon and the stars
Shine their glittering light,
Into the night.
You’re sitting on the balcony,
Sipping on a cup of tea,
Snuggled in a shawl,
Gazing at the horizon
And the open sky,
And listening to the sounds
Of the bush like a lullaby,
Before finally sliding inside your cosy bed,
Relaxed and ready
to let yourself be transported
into the realm
of your sweet dreams.
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06/09/2024

If you are thinking to come to Toowoomba for the Carnival of Flowers next week-end but haven’t made any reservation yet, due to a cancellation, we have a vacancy in Ironbark chalet from Friday 13th September for 3 nights. To make a booking, visit our website or give us a call.

31/08/2024

Along Nature trail,
you will notice shrubs in blossom, with delicate tiny snapdragon lookalike purple flowers. They are some Hovea lorata (Short leaved Hovea), a beautiful plant species that grows on poor sandstone and granite ridges and that can be cultivated and used for forest rehabilitation. With seeds coming up as well, the Hovea might be getting towards the end of its flowering season, so don’t wait too long to take the walk if you want to find them.
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31/08/2024

Dawn
A moment of transition
Between night and day.
When the horizon blushes
And the kookaburras laugh
To anticipate the light to come.
Dawn
A moment of stillness
For prayers to be whispered,
When being alone is a blessing
To witness the energy rising around
And feeling invigorated by it all.
Dawn
A moment of transition
Between night and day❤️
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27/08/2024

If you need a break and haven’t planned anything yet, we have some vacancies mid-week in Applegum chalet until the 12th of September. Visit our website to make a booking or give us a call.
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26/08/2024

Along the Nature trail at , take notice of the variety of shrubs, trees and plants.

Today, I’m introducing you to the Hairy Lolly Bush or Clerodendrum tomentosum.

Small and scruffy, the bushes are drought-resistant and grow in the forest understorey. They stand out when they fruit. Two varieties are found here: the hairy- leaved and the smooth-leaved (Clerodendrum floribundum). We will have to wait a little longer before they flower and later show up with their beautiful bright star-shaped fruits in Summer.
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24/08/2024

❤️Magical Morning at
As we’re moving towards Spring, the Sun is slowly changing path, now rising away from Mount Campbell❤️

23/08/2024

Amongst the beautiful box-trees that surround us, please meet the Gum-topped Box family with their characteristic rough and persistent bark on the trunk. These eucalyptus trees are fast growing and can get up to 30 m tall. They grow in a great variety of soil and in lower rainfall belts. Koalas love them. They flower in late Summer and are also an excellent source of food for bees when it happens. These ones are towering along our fence near the property entry towards the main residence.
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-toppedbox

20/08/2024

Along the nature trail at :
🍃Silver-leaved Ironbark: with its distinctive sinuous limbs, you will find it at the lookout at the bench side. They are many more in the forest, if you look around. Ironbark trees can be identified by their rough thick bark they never shed and accumulate instead. They owe their common name to the hardness of their timber. If you take notice, you might also spot another variety with narrow leaves. We named Ironbark chalet after all of these Ironbark gumtrees.
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20/08/2024

In the families of trees, please meet the Kurrajongs today, also known under the name of Queensland Bottle trees or Brachychitons.
🍃These trees have the amazing power to drop their leaves in dry winters and with deep roots, they can survive droughts.
🍃Usually found in dry rainforest, they also grow in eucalyptus woodland.
🍃Trees only flower when mature but not every year and I’ve never seen this one with flowers yet. It might still be a juvenile as the tree can take 35 to 50 years to reach mature height with a lifespan of over 150 years.
🍃Kurrajongs have shown they can be fire resistant and therefore are an excellent choice for a backyard tree.

Have noticed any Kurrajongs in your neck of the woods?
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18/08/2024

The Lewin’s Honeyeater is often spotted around the chalets. On her recent visit, a guest has updated our e-bird field checklist with 2 new species bringing the total number to 76. The red-backed Fairywren and the Brown Cuckoo Dove are the additions.
Living with the forest at our doorstep and up high overlooking the wilderness of the Glen Lomond valley, we are blessed to share the place with an abundance of wildlife.
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15/08/2024

One tree a day, I present to you to learn and practice remembering names of the beautiful species we are surrounded by, here at . A tree is a tree, but with a name, it becomes distinct from the others.
Today, it’s the turn of the Rough barked Apple or Angophora floribunda that gives us abundant displays of cream-white flowers in Summer. With a few of them around, we named one of our chalet after it.
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-barkedapple